Sabre Corp., a Southlake-based travel services company, announced Friday it will raise about $800 million in an initial public offering, which will be used to repay debt.

The company, which owns Travelocity and other travel- and reservation-related businesses, plans to issue 44.7 million shares later this year at $18 to $20, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

At the midpoint of the range, Sabre would have a market value of $4.9 billion.

Sabre was created as the technology division of AMR Corp. and developed American Airlines’ reservation system. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 1996 to 2006, when it was purchased by private equity firms Texas Pacific Group of Fort Worth and Silver Lake Partners in California in a deal valued at $5.4 billion.

It has been a private company since then, but its return as a public company has been long expected. Friday’s filing with the additional IPO details was an amendment to Sabre’s original IPO registration statement filed in January.

In recent years the company has been piling up losses. Sabre’s revenue grew slightly from $2.97 billion in 2012 to $3.05 billion last year. However, the company lost $645.9 million in 2012 and $137.2 million in 2013.

Sabre employs about 10,000 people in about 60 countries. The company operates four brands/businesses: Sabre Airline Solutions, Sabre Hospitality Solutions, Sabre Travel Network and Travelocity.

When it goes public, Sabre plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol SABR.

The IPO market, which basically dried up after the 2008 financial crisis, has been on fire the past couple of years.

So far this year, 71 companies have gone public, raising $12.6 billion, compared with 32 companies and $7.7 billion during the same period last year.

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